Bacchanalia: The Ancient Roman Sex Festival You Wish You Attended

By all accounts, the authorities were so troubled by the practice that they outlawed them, with punishments of severe torture imposed on anyone who continued to practice. Apparently, it was not-unusual for the offended party to sodomize his rival with a radish, as opposed to his own equipment. To summarize what we have observed:. After all, even the most straight-laced, conservative Roman could be expected to enjoy:. Displays such as the pageants of Nero can be interpreted as debauched spectacles of conspicuous consumption at which the aristocratic senatorial class could be humiliated by the emperor and brought down to size. Yet, for all the threat of torture lingered over its followers, the cult of Bacchus survived for centuries — along with its pervy, orgiastic rites.

Sexuality in ancient Rome - Wikipedia

The plot focuses on the adventures of a Roman man and his child lover as they navigate a world of orgies, flagellation and dildo-wearing priestesses. One can only guess at the motive for freeborn aristocrats holding these kinds of orgies, behavior which seems to have been hitherto restricted to mystery cults and bordellos. However, when it comes to the nuts and bolts of these rites, not much is actually known. Writing about the penchant of a man named Hostius Quadra to arrange group sex with his slaves in mirrored surroundings, Seneca the Younger describes how: See, slaves were absolutely devoid of rights in Roman law. There was a nighttime version that involved wine and feasting, and that one got a huge following from men and women alike. Their morality was a bit different than ours.